A group of militants attacked a security check post in Ladha town in South Waziristan, triggering a gunfight which killed one soldier and wounded two others. This was the third attack on security forces in the area this month.

According to reports appearing in Irna, security forces used artillery to shell suspected positions of militants, sources said.

Security officials said that several militants were killed after the shelling. The militants are said to have attacked the post with rockets.

“One soldier was killed and two were injured in the attack, while three militants were also killed in the retaliatory fire,” a security official in Peshawar said.

Once notorious as a bastion of Pakistani Taliban and Uzbek fighters, Ladha was reduced to a shell of damaged buildings, piles of rubble and a ruined paramilitary fort after the military launched an operation in 2009. Three soldiers were also killed in a roadside bomb attack in the area on June 13.

On June 9, scores of militants attacked a security post in Makeen area of South Waziristan and killed at least eight soldiers.

Reader Comments (3)

These anti state criminals can only mount cowardly attacks on innocent civilians and remote check posts before running away. The army needs to have a hot pursuit policy to end this menace being sent by anti state agencies working for enemies.Recommend

@Andrea – these anti state criminals were considered strategic assets worth protecting against those nasty American’s just a few weeks ago. Further – hot pursuit implies that Pakistan has both the will and the means to pursue and eliminate these militants and I would argue that there is ample evidence that it doesn’t have the will and doesn’t have sufficient military force within the area to be effective. Perhaps it’s just ironic justice that Pakistan having facilitated cross border raids into Afghanistan and is now on the receiving end.Recommend